LABOUR councillors bucked the national trend by keeping a firm grip on the reins of power at Reading Borough Council last night.

Despite Labour losses throughout the country, the party's grasp on Reading held as solidly as ever and in some cases grew even stronger.

There were none of the surprises that had been rumoured and the turnout at 29.4 per cent was not as bad as many had feared.

All 16 seats that were up for election stayed with the same parties leaving the make up of Reading council as Labour 36, Liberal Democrats six and Conservatives three.

Labour council leader David Sutton was visibly overjoyed with his party's strong showing.

The leaders of the main opposition parties were left wondering what they can do to make a dent in the seemingly impenetrable wall of Labour support in Reading.

Councillor Sutton said: "We are absolutely delighted. We did have a very strong field of candidates this time. There are some great new

people coming into the council and now they will have to work hard in their localities.

"I will be interested to see how it has gone across the country because some of these turnouts are significant. They are higher than people expected."

The only Labour ward to come near being threatened was in Caversham where the Conservatives asked for a recount.

But the seat remained red by just 90 votes and Mary Waite will now join her husband and former mayor Steve Waite in the council chamber.

Labour also fought off tough competition in Redlands ward where there were rumours that Reading's next mayor, Liz Winfield-Chislett, could fall victim to a Lib Dem push.

But she finished 161 seats ahead of her nearest rival and a new colleague Riaz Chaudhri kept a second Redland seat Labour in a by-election.

Cllr Winfield-Chislett said: "I'm very pleased and I think we have demonstrated that the Labour team in Redlands is a good team and we have increased our majority with a lower turnout."

The Conservative group made few inroads and suffered a reduced majority in Thames ward where Jeanette Skeats lead was cut by the Lib Dems to just 169 votes.

Dejected Tory group leader Fred Pugh said: "As far as we are concerned we are disappointed that we can't seem to make the breakthrough. We came extremely close in Caversham and asked for a recount.

"Obviously, Conservatives will have to work hard to hold on to their seat in Thames where the majority has been whittled away but elsewhere we will stand a chance next year.

"Until the Conservative Party makes a breakthrough nationally we're not going to advance much in local elections."

The only comfort for Lib Dem group leader Bob Green was the strength of his own vote in Peppard ward and increasing the party's majority in Tilehurst, which had been threatened by Labour.

Cllr Green said: "I'm very glad we have held our two existing seats with substantially increased majorities.

"In Thames ward we didn't expect to come anywhere near as close. We were fighting Thames very hard this year with a brand new candidate but we expected to build the foundations for a serious challenge on the revised boundaries next year."

But he admitted: "We need a stronger opposition in Reading and I really don't know how we are going to get it. There have been small successes but I'm rather depressed."

The first result to come through at the count in Rivermead Leisure Centre was the Labour stronghold of Whitley at 10.37pm where Cllr Lawrence Silverman comfortably kept hold of his seat.

It was all wrapped up at 11.45pm when it was announced that the Lib Dems had kept hold of their Peppard seat.

L READING'S sole Independent candidate polled a respectable result and made a dent in Labour's vote in Abbey ward.

Peter Burt, standing as a Red Green Independent, picked up 208 votes which compared well with some of the Green Party candidates in other wards across the borough.

He said: "I'm delighted. I got 11 per cent of the vote. The last time a candidate from outside the three main parties in Abbey ward got as high a results was in 1983 when a Green candidate got 211."

Mr Burt said he would not disappear from public life and would like to stand for council again.

He said: "There is a lot of good work to build on and over the last few weeks I have found out a lot about some very important community campaigns such as saving EP Collier School which I will continue to support.

"It's been hard work but absolutely invaluable visiting people locally on their doorsteps and listening to what is important to them."